The Legacy of Sam Katz

The last laugh?

After 10 years as mayor, what is Sam Katz's legacy?

This isn't always a question that can be answered with immediacy after any leader steps down. It often has to fit it has be a lasting narrative that is repeated as fact about that person.

For example: Duff Roblin and how Winnipeg has been spared disaster time and time again because of the Red River Floodway.

Ten years from now it is doubtful that Katz will be remembered as the man who brought IKEA to Winnipeg.

The problem with that narrative is that a lot of people lay claim to that. And in the end IKEA brought IKEA to Winnipeg.

Sometimes it is the simplest things that will be remembered and they may often say more about us that it has about the person we elected. In this case, let's think about Glen Murray.

Glen Murray was the first openly gay mayor elected to a major city in North America. That's a legacy for the continent. The issue mattered little to us compared to who led the city.

In terms of legacies that a politician likes to be remembered for, it was Glen Murray who expended quite a political capital to get a downtown arena built, got the Esplanade Riel bridge and restaurant completed and was one of the champions of the Human Rights Museum. He managed to that and have a freeze on property taxes.

All of the above are legacies. Many were not recognized as such when they were undertaken. It took time to realize some of the significance of these projects. Some, in the case of the Human Rights Museum, we still don't know what the end story is.

So, if we keep things simple at first, what is the legacy of Sam Katz? Well, he is the first Jewish mayor elected in Winnipeg. This is a big deal insofar as we have had Jewish leaders routinely rejected by the electorate for higher office at various levels.

Winnipeg has grown up. We have made firsts in electing a woman, a gay man and a Jewish man mayor of the city of Winnipeg. Collectively, we have said these are not the issues that will stop me from voting for this person.

Now what of the legacy of achievements of Sam Katz? To be sure, those things are still in flux. He can certainly claim as much as Glen Murray a hand in getting the Human Rights Museum completed. However, we don't know what the citizens of the city will feel about the project for some time to come.

Property taxes were frozen...till they weren't.

Business tax was cut and this is a concrete legacy and something he pushed for.

Katz was also the force behind ending city garbage service. Costs are down but the is still a developing story of service, efficiency and conservation.

After this, things get a little fuzzy. We have a number of fire halls and police headquarters built but the good legacy of investment there is tangled in with the overcosts, cronyism and lost trust of business and the electorate.

The praise from Alex Forest of the fire union stating that the mayor did right by the fire fighters and paramedics and they don't know what all the fuss is about is a bit rich. Let's just say that a fire all built on private land a swaps of city property by a fire chief is not way to run city hall.

How things get done is equal to getting them done.

This is the immediate aftermath of the legacy of Sam Katz.

Some other projects that Sam Katz was involved in might have a more lasting and appreciated recognition in years to come. The turnaround of Central Park came from a lot of people but Katz was there to help usher it in. He also was there to help with the new fieldhouse for the University of Winnipeg.

After many decades, the first leg of rapid transit was constructed under Katz's watch. Even now, we don't know if it was in spite of him or not. We don't yet know how Winnipeg feels about it all and won't know for years to come.

The legacy of Sam Katz is still being written. Let's see how it turns out.

The Life of Former Premier Sterling Lyon

Former Premier Sterling Lyon died yesterday after a short illness. He had a long history of public service to Manitoba including 16 years on the Manitoba Court of Appeal.

Lyon came from the right contingent of the Progressive Conservative party and rose to leader in 1975. The jury is still out on Hugh McFayden but by most reckoning, Lyon was the last from the right to command the PCs. When he won in 1977, it was more about fatigue with the NDP government of Edward Schreyer than an endorsement of a return of a time that existed before Duff Roblin.

The free enterprise laissez-faire approach of Sterling Lyon ran smack into the reality of a recession that hit Manitoba particularly hard. Large manufacturers such as Swift's and Canada Packer went under during their watch. The Winnipeg Tribune also collapsed. Thousands of Manitobans were out of work and an exodus of people to the more recession proof energy provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta accelerated. Most embarrassing for the Progressive Conservatives was that their restraint program still produced a huge a deficit and didn't produce a big economic turn around.

To make matters worse, Sterling Lyon was engaged in important but distracting national meetings on the Constitution. While Lyon was able to get the "not withstanding" clause added to the document, he did so while away from his province at a critical time economically. The pugnacious attitude of Lyon during this time certainly had its critics. Still, in 1981, the PCs led in the polls that is until Lyon referred to women as "good breeders."

The "Don't Stop Us Now" campaign slogan for the PCs was in reference to some of the megaprojects they planned to build Manitoba but for many people, the slogan felt like further brutal cuts were pending. Liberal support in Manitoba collapsed and this proved to be the boost the NDP needed to push Howard Pawley's party into power.

Lyon was tossed from power after one term. It would be the last time a right of center faction member of the PCs would lead the party till this day.

There is no doubt that the Sterling Lyon was a committed Manitoban. His time spent on the Constitutional file helped assert that elected legislatures had a final authority over the Charter.

Lyon's departure and the return of the NDP emphasized an urban, rural and northern divide. Nowadays elections are fought over only a few key ridings.

The Progressive Conservatives, always strong in rural areas, realized that they needed to focus on Winnipeg. And to do that usually entailed looking for more progressive and urban members of the PCs.

The years that Lyon spent as a judge were certainly less controversial than those spent in elected office. By all accounts, he was a hard working and respected member of the judiciary.

The latter few years of his life were marked by the ill affects of a car accident suffered years earlier. When he passed away, he was surrounded by his large and extended family.